INVEST IN BEING
NEWSWORTHY FOR MARKETING RETURN
Creative campaigns attract attention
By Henry DeVries
Advertisers bet heavily on the recent
Super Bowl. And lost, in our opinion.
With the average 30-second spot costing
more than $2 million, you have to hope these companies weren’t
investing all of their marketing budgets in advertising to
build awareness. Because there is a better solution.
Marketing public relations is the creative
use of newsworthy events, publications, social investments,
community relations and other means to raise awareness, build
traffic and otherwise distinguish a company and its products
from its competitors.
To be newsworthy, a company and its products
must identify with the needs, wants, concerns and interests
of its customers. In other words, hard work.
Marketing public relations doesn’t
replace advertising, but many savvy, marketers are shifting
increasing portions of their budgets to the art of being
newsworthy.
In a front-page story, the The Wall Street
Journal commented on the cost advantage of public relations
over advertising, noting that “ a PR budget of $500,000
is considered huge, while an ad budget that size is considered
tiny.”
Companies can buy a full year’s marketing
public relations program for the cost of a single, 30-second,
prime-time TV spot. These same economies hold true for local
marketing campaigns.
Another reason for the shift is the increased
attention potential customers, be they consumer or business-to-business,
pay to coverage in the media. No less an advertising authority
than noted author David Ogilvy of Ogilvy & Mather pointed
out: “Roughly six times as many people read the average
article as read the average advertisement. Very few advertisements
are read by more than one reader in 20.”
Another fact to consider is that some
things in life are not for sale at any price. You can’t
buy the Mona Lisa. You can’t buy the Grand Canyon. You
can’t buy an ad on the front page of the The Wall Street
Journal. But marketing public relations can get you there.
Creating awareness is what marketing public
relations does best, but it has its drawbacks. You can’t
control the timing and the message like you can with advertising.
But in the long run, nothing is mores cost effective at building
awareness.
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Copyright© New Client Marketing Institute
2000 – 2003. You may reprint this article in any publication
or Web site as long as you credit Henry DeVries as the author
and include his Web site address, www.henrydevries.com.
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